Dramawhat??

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Dramawhat??

Written by Denise Santomauro

Monday, 07 July 2008 23:05

So a non-theatre friend of mine recently asked what I was up to.

I responded with, “Well, I’m auditioning a little and I’m going to dramaturg Militant Language in the fall for Halcyon.”

“What’s a dramaturg,” he responded, eyebrows raised as though I was making up a title for myself.

“Well…it’s…ummm.”

Then it dawned on me. I don’t really entirely know myself. I mean, obviously I know what it is…kinda. But I never received a textbook definition for it.

With that thought in mind, I hit the wonderful world of the internet and looked up dramaturg. According to Wikipedia, a dramaturg (or dramaturge) “is a position within a theatre that deals mainly with research and development. It has gained its modern-day function through the innovations of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, a playwright and theatre practitioner who worked in Germany in the 18th century. The dramaturg's contribution was to categorize and discuss the various types and kinds of plays, their interconnectedness and their styles.” Hmmm. Well, I’ve been doing research for Militant. That counts right? As I widdled away an hour or more online I began to see that there is a whole world of dramaturg’s out there doing all kinds of things. There are also all sorts of definitions for what a dramaturg does. Everything from research prior to production to being a liason for a playwright whose play is still in development to doing translations of scripts. I was a little overwhelmed. I suddenly felt a out of my league. I stepped away from the computer, made some tea and thought about my role with Militant. It occurred to me that the position is really open to whatever a production needs. There is no set in stone definition as to what a dramaturg does. It really depends on the company, director and demands of a production. I breathed easier.

Sometimes I think we get bogged down by the labels put on us. We feel boxed in to a specific way of thinking or being based on a definition. And isn’t that counterintuitive to being an artist? Isn’t an artist about exploring your own creativity and choosing your own way of expressing it?

For me, the reality is, I’m a huge dork at heart and the magnetic pull I feel towards dramaturgical work is my need to live fully in my dorkiness and stay connected to theatre at the same time. Plus, it gives me an excuse to hang out in coffee shops and read for hours on end.